Shutting the doors: School board votes 5-2 to close Grantsdale Elementary School

Click on link below to view the article on another school closing tragedy!

Trustees around the nation fail to understand the bond citizens feel toward their smaller neighborhood schools and the superior education which a smaller school provides.

This school closure along with the Missoula school closures in 2004 and in previous years are an example of failed leadership of school boards.

It would behoove all city and county government entities to be involved in a school closure discussion as closing a school effects the whole city and geographical area.  In fact, the Superintendent of Public Instruction  in Helena needs to address this issue in her/his list of priorities so that uninformed and malevolent school boards cannot go against the will of the people to close a school. 

The future consequences of a school closure need to be considered more fully before a school closure.

The negative ramifications of closing Prescott, Mt. Jumbo, and Rattlesnake Middle School in 2004 have never fully been studied. Prescott School Missoula has just touched on some of the fall out from closing Prescott especially in light of the subsequent leasing of the school to a competing private school, Missoula Internatonal School and also the building of a modular at Rattlesnake School to accommodate the crowding there instead of reopening Prescott.

It is highly likely that the district is aware of other problems with the closing of the schools and the leasing of  one of the three to a competing entity but the district would want to keep any problems quiet.

Shutting the doors: School board votes 5-2 to close Grantsdale Elementary School

Toni Rehbein - formerly Toni Smartt - displayed questionable behavior while working for Misssoula County Public Schools in 1990

Did Toni Rehbein have a good record to stand on before being elected to the Missoula County Public Schools Board of Trustees? Had she displayed ethical behavior in her previous employment with MCPS?

According to past Missoulian articles reporting on Toni Rehbein (formerly Toni Smartt), the answer to the above question is unclear.

The Missoulian reported on a potential conflict of interest problem concerning Toni Smartt in relation to two of her jobs connected to Missoula County Public Schools.

The April 14th, 1990 article was followed by another on April 20th,
(post regarding that article will be forthcoming) on the same issue. In both articles there isn't information on how the investigation ended and on any conclusive decisions.

There is reason to believe that after reading the information in the articles that if there was no intentional "double dipping", (which we do not know if there was or not) Toni Smartt (as mentioned above now Toni Rehbein), at the very least, needed to avoid the appearance of any impropriety and not work for or get a pay check from Community Care.


Missoulian article on April 14^th of 1990
The article titled is titled:
“A conflict of interest, (lower case letters as was printed in the Missoulian)

with a subtitle of -

"School official’s off-duty job raises legal question”

By Gary Jahrig and Michael Moore of the Missoulian

"Deputy Missoula County Attorney Mike Sehestedt, who acts as the school district’s attorney, delivered that message Thursday after investigating concerns raised about Smartt’s affiliation with Community Care, Inc."

"Community Care works with schools and community organizations to educate young people in the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse."

"Smartt, whose district salary is $39,650, coordinates District 1’s drug and alcohol programs, and also works as middle-school coordinator. The district’s drug and alcohol program is in part paid for by a federal grant that Smartt “monitors” according to Block."

"District 1 uses the federal money to contract with Community Care for workshops designed to help district employees recognize and deal with chemical abuse."

"Smartt’sconflict, according to Sehestedt, arises because Community Care sometimes hires her to run those workshops. Smartt also serves on Community Care’s board of directors."

"Dorothea Lambros, president of Community Care’s board, said Friday that she is not sure how much money Smartt is paid. Block said District 1 paid Community Care about $25,300 last year."

"The Code of Federal Regulations which governs use of grants, states that employees of a grant recipient, in this case the school district, are not to have “financial or other interest” in a firm that receives grant money, as Community Care does. "

"“It appears to me that if an employee who administers a contract supported by federal funds has an interest in the corporation that receives the funds, and in fact receives money from that corporation, then you’ve got a conflict,” Sehestedt said."

"Block said that although he was not aware of any problem with the current arrangement, he would abide by any decision Sehestedt reached."

"“If it’s a problem …we are going to correct the problem,” Block said. “The only way I can see correcting it straight off, without being totally disruptive to the training program as we go on, is to say, Toni Smartt, you’re no longer part of the Community Care, Inc. board, “plain and simple.”"

"Sehestedt said he was less concerned by Smartt’s position on the board than with her contract relationship with Community Care."

"“I think it’s possible that she could still serve on the board, so long as she is not receiving remuneration for her service,” Sehestedt said. "

"Block said the matter would be taken up with Smartt next week when she returns to work after the District 1 spring break."

"“If that is a violation,” Block said, “I’m not going to place this district in a position of liability.”"

"Block said that when Smartt “moonlights in training in the area of drug awareness and addiction,” she does so on her own time."

"“When she is doing that kind of training she is on leave without pay from the school district because obviously we don’t have any double dipping going on,” Block said."

"Sehestedt said the conflict of interest exists regardless of whether Smartt is on her own time when she works for Community Care."

"Part of Smartt’s job description with District 1 calls for her to coordinate efforts with Community Care and represent the district on the organization’s board of directors."

"Contacted at home by the Missoulian, Smartt said she was unable to comment on the matter because she was unaware o f the conflict or Sehestedt’s recommendation."

"Lambros said Community Care will do nothing to endanger the grant, or the organization’s attempts to h help children."

"“We want to do the right thing,” she said. We don’t want to put anyone in a position of conflict. …We will resolve matters in a way that ensures that.”"

MCPS goes forward with approval of Prescott School/MIS lease in 2004 even though a lawsuit had been filed against MCPS asking the court to void the board's decision to close three schools, which included Prescott

Below one can read parts of a Missoulian article written on May 11, 2004 by Jane Rider reporting on the proposed lease of Prescott School by Missoula International School.

Prescott School Missoula would like to bring to light the fact that the Prescott School/MIS lease was approved during the time in which  a lawsuit was filed  by two Missoula residents against MCPS that alleged the district violated state open meetings law during its budget preparation process just days before the May 11, 2004 Board Meeting.

MCPS Trustees knew they had been served a lawsuit in which Prescott School was involved AND WENT AHEAD WITH LEASING DISCUSSIONS OF PRESCOTT WITH MISSOULA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL.

Prescott School Missoula discussed this situation with a citizen knowledgeable with land issues.  This citizen's opinion on this issue was that the correct course of action by the attorney for the plaintiffs, John Schonz (may not be correct spelling) , Molly Moody and Allen Oinnes, would have been to file a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop any lease negotiations.

Due to the fact that the attorney for the plaintiffs was not "on his game" the Prescott/MIS lease discussions went forward.

The title of the May 11, 20004 Missoulian article is -

"Spanish school eyes Prescott space"

Parts of the article follow -
 
- "Missoula International School has expressed interest in leasing Prescott Elementary School to consolidate its operations at one building.
- "The issue was discussed at Missoula County Public Schools' Finance & Operations Committee meeting last month. The committee recommended the administration continue talks with the international school and seek a legal opinion as to whether the district needs to issue a formal "request for proposals" before considering the deal."

- "Missoula International School is a nonprofit Spanish immersion school that serves children from preschool through third grade. The school currently instructs about 70 students at two locations. It owns a building at 518 South Ave. W., where the preschool and kindergarten classes are currently held. In addition, it leases space from the University Congregational Church on University Avenue to instruct students in first, second and third grades."

- "Missoula International hopes to consolidate at one location in time for the start of the 2004-05 fall school year, Pierpoint said Monday."

- "Though there are many buildings available in Missoula, few of them offer classrooms and play space, she said. Prescott became a possibility after MCPS' school board voted 4-3 on March 24 to close the lower Rattlesnake elementary school, along with Mount Jumbo Elementary and Rattlesnake Middle School, to help balance the 2004-05 elementary budget."

- "The district's plan calls for relocating most of the Rattlesnake middle-schoolers to Washington Middle School and transforming Rattlesnake Middle School into a K-5 elementary school in the upper Rattlesnake that would serve students who normally would have attended Mount Jumbo and Prescott."

- "But looming over any action is a lawsuit filed last week by two Missoula residents against MCPS that alleges the district violated state open meetings law during its budget preparation process this spring. The lawsuit asks the court to void the board's decision to close the three schools."

- "If successful, the lawsuit would require the district to gather more public input and provide citizens and trustees with greater access to district budget team meetings, more options and decision-making documents that school administrators considered early on before recommending how to balance the 2004-05 budget."

 

 

GOOD SCHOOLS MISSOULA INC v. MISSOULA COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT NO, No. DA 07-0538., July 01, 2008 - MT Supreme Court | FindLaw

Click on the link below to read the Supreme Court document regarding the Good Schools Missoula lawsuit against Missoula County Public School District on the sale of Roosevelt School to the Catholic Schools Organization.

A link to this document is included on the Prescott School Missoula blog as there are many similarities (almost identical) with the lease of Roosevelt School to St. Joseph's School and the lease of Prescott School to Missoula International School.

GOOD SCHOOLS MISSOULA INC v. MISSOULA COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT NO, No. DA 07-0538., July 01, 2008 - MT Supreme Court | FindLaw

The decision by the Supreme Court did not apply to the merits of the case, but with the procedure the litigants used in the case. The Supreme Court sided with the district in that they agreed that the litigants needed to go to the Missoula County Superintendent of Schools at the beginning of the lawsuit process.

Therefore one can conclude that because the Supreme Court did not rule in favor of Good Schools Missoula does not mean that it is a prudent decision to lease or sell a public school to a private school.

NO ROOSEVELT REPEAT - I.E. A SALE OF PRESCOTT SCHOOL TO MISSOULA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL!

Briefly, the decision to sell Roosevelt School was shortsighted and reckless.

During the discussions of the sale, a responsible and loyal trustee brought up that the state was about to approve all-day kindergarten.
Unfortunately,this fact was dismissed by the pro-sale trustees.

Shortly after the sale, the state did approve all-day kindergarten which then forced the need for 13 classrooms, almost exactly the number of classrooms that Roosevelt provided.  Consequently, the district had to spend millions of dollars on additions to other schools.

David Merrill dismisses his mandate when elected and voted to close Prescott School along with Rattlesnake Middle School and Mount Jumbo Schools on the evening of March 24th - 25th, 2004

When running for the MCPS school board in 2001, David Merrill stated that he was a proponent of re-opening Prescott School. Prescott School had been closed earlier that spring. In fact, he ran for the school board with two other people with the similar message, "re-open Prescott School" (Suzette Dussault and Colleen Rogers).  They sent out post cards with the three names that indicated that they believed in re-opening Prescott School.

Many believe that Merrill's position on the Prescott School issue was the reason for his victory at the polls and was indeed a mandate that he would support Prescott School that spring and in the future.

In a March 26, 2004, Missoulian article written by Jane Rider, the following statements can be found;

"The board's 4-3 vote at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, came after more than seven hours of discussion over the district's secondary and elementary budgets. Trustees Rosemary Harrison, Jenda Hemphill, David Merrill and Naomi DeMarinis voted in favor of the school closures and consolidation of Rattlesnake. Trustees Suzette Dussault, Carol Bellin and Colleen Rogers voted against."

and -

"Merrill had indicated earlier in a straw vote that he wouldn't support closing Rattlesnake Middle School, but after the lengthy and futile effort to find money elsewhere to close the budget gap, he stated he was willing to close the middle school."

and -

"I'm not comfortable putting this off," he said. "This has been a very difficult process. I don't think we should continue down this path of indecision. I'm willing to change my vote."

By changing his vote on the closing of Rattlesnake Middle School he also was ignoring his mandate received in his election in 200l to not close Prescott School.

Were there other forces in Merrill's life that played into his decision to close the three schools?

Prescott School Missoula had heard that David Merrill was playing a lot of tennis with administrator Larry Johnson. psm (Prescott School Missoula) understands that Merrill and Johnson were friends. Whether their friendship began before or after he ran for the school board is unknown and may not even be pertinent to the issue. 

One can construe from the above information, that perhaps there was some school politics being discussed while playing tennis and perhaps the school closures was a topic. 

Whether or not Larry Johnson was able to influence Merrill's vote on the school closures is unknown.  The possibility existed , however, to do so.

Perhaps it is a good idea to stay away from unnecessary socializing with administrators during controversial decisions to avoid questions coming up in citizen's minds.

Another point that needs to be reiterated is that the decision came at 1:30 a.m. after 7 hours of deliberation.  To not postpone the  school closure decision, especially due to its magnitude, was a huge mistake. It is quite apparent that Chairwoman Harrison wished to make the decision that night, which placed trustees under a lot of pressure to make a hurried and unwise decision.

The trustees were under extreme pressure and could not have been thinking clearly at that time, in the morning after that many hours. of heated discussion, contrary to what they may have been thinking at the time. 

In fact, some people may have asked that the discussions be postponed to another day, however, psm is unsure that that happened.

Prescott School is TOO SMALL (Rehbein) - Prescott School is TOO BIG (Apostle) - Prescott School is a PERFECT SIZE - (Prescott School Missoula)

Prescott School Missoula hears so many excuses for not re-opening Prescott School located at 1100 Harrison St. in the lower Rattlesnake Valley. In 2004 during the school closures psm(Prescott School Missoula)  heard even more excuses during the school closures. 

This is the tragedy of the situation in which Missoulians find themselves; with so many closed schools and so much busing.

If a few, even a couple, of MCPS Trustees think that neighborhood schools have no value and think it is best to bus our children out of their neighborhoods, citizens will hear the most outrageous and sad excuses for closing a school or not re-opening a school by these pro "attendance center*  Trustees. 

Unfortunately, many citizens buy into the many false excuses for closing and not re-opening a school put forward by these trustees, administrators, and some citizens. It if likely many citizens do not have all the facts and do not realize all the negative "tentacles" that reach out to a community as a result from closing a school.

psm would like to mention two such excuses in this post.

In 2007, then Trustee Toni Rehbein, stated in a discussion during a school board meeting in which an appraisal of Prescott School was a topic, that Prescott School was TOO SMALL.

In a conversation about Prescott School with Superintendent Apostle earlier in this year at the administration building on 6th Street, when asked about re-opening Prescott School he stated that Prescott School was TOO BIG.

As one can see Trustees and administrators are reaching at every possible excuse to keep Prescott School closed.  These excuses are outlandish and reveal that there is really no valid or logical reasoning going on. 

MCPS district officials are concerned more about Missoula International School than they are about the very students in which they are charged to look after.

Prescott School Missoula's opinion and that of many others is that Prescott School is A PERFECT SIZE.

Many families, teachers, administrators at Prescott School have loved Prescott School for over a century precisely BECAUSE OF IT'S SIZE.  Prescott School offers a friendly and small environment conducive to effective learning for children of all ages. This small school tucked in at the bottom of Mt. Jumbo offers an idyllic setting for Missoula's PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN and needs to return for use by its rightful owners.


* During the 2004 school closures psm is of the understanding that administrators were using the phrase "attendance centers" to describe the schools that were to become larger due to the north side students being bused to them.

Happy Thanksgiving Prescott School! We give thanks for Prescott School in Missoula

Again, Happy Thanksgiving Prescott School!

For over a century Missoula's children attending Prescott School on 1100 Harrison celebrated Thanksgiving Day. 

 For over a century Missoula's children attending Prescott School got Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, off from school and the Friday the day after.

WE ARE THANKFUL FOR ALL THE YEARS THAT PRESCOTT SCHOOL IN MISSOULA HAS SERVED MISSOULA'S CHILDREN AS A NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE DAY WHEN MISSOULA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN CAN CELEBRATE THANKSGIVING ATTENDING PRESCOTT SCHOOL ONCE AGAIN. 

PRESCOTT SCHOOL - A PUBLIC SCHOOL - FOR MISSOULA'S PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN FOR OVER A CENTURY.